The start screen appeared, and Mac leaned over her to type. His scent surrounded her, all outdoorsy and male, and brought back memories of the way he'd touched her that morning. The tenderness of their lovemaking in that little cabin. It made her yearn to touch Mac. To curl into him and inhale his scent, feel the rasp of his whiskers against her fingertips. To drag him upstairs to his room and keep him there for hours.
She looked up and found both of her brothers watching them.
Or maybe not.
When this was over, though...
Mac nudged her shoulder, and she forced her thoughts away from Mac and what she wanted to do to him. She blinked twice, trying to focus her brain on the computer, where a fuzzy picture of a baseball game filled the screen. Mac pulled a chair close and sat down, then nodded at Connor. "Start the recording."
Connor hesitated, his hand hovering over the video recorder switch. "You sure you want to be the one to do this, Mac? You and Lizzy are...whatever you are. Not objective, anyway. Defense would rip that apart in court. Maybe Bren and I should take her statement."
Mac drummed his fingers on the table as his gaze shifted from her to his brothers and back. "Yeah. You're right. We'll do this differently."
He stood up and rearranged the camera so it showed Brendan and Connor on one side of the table, he and Lizzy on the other. "I'll be lead interrogator, but you two jump in if something isn't clear. Okay?"
"Interrogator?" Lizzy said, staring at him.
"It's just a word, Lizzy," he said, his voice weary. "Okay?"
She shifted on the chair, suddenly twitchy and nervous. 'Interrogate' sounded harsh. Like she was a criminal with something to hide. She thought she was just giving a statement. Telling him what happened.
As soon as Connor gave him a thumbs up, he stared at the recorder and said, "This is Special Agent Cormac Donovan interviewing Elizabeth Monroe. Also present are CPD Detective Connor Donovan and CPD Detective Brendan Donovan."
He recited the Miranda warning, and her heart began to race. "Am I a suspect? I thought..."
He touched her hand, the slightest pressure of his fingers against hers. "You're not a suspect, Ms. Monroe. It's for your protection and ours. We want to do everything by the book. No questions, no loopholes. Do you understand this warning?"
"Yes," she answered.
"Good. Let the record state that Ms. Monroe is studying pictures of members of the staff in the FBI's Chicago office. Ms. Monroe, scroll through these pictures and see if you recognize anyone."
Lizzy looked for the touch pad and found a mouse instead. Brendan's mouth curled into a smile. "Sorry about the dinosaur technology. Department computers are old to begin with. The ones our undercover agents take into the field are eligible for social security."
She relaxed a little and nodded at Brendan, who nodded back, his eyes calm. Reassuring. Curling her fingers around the mouse, she clicked through a series of pictures from a baseball game. The figures in red and white uniforms were far away and indistinct. "None of them are close enough," she finally said, frustrated. "I can't see their faces clearly."
"It's okay," Mac said. "Just keep scrolling." She'd clenched her left hand into a fist on her thigh, and Mac forced it open, stroking the back of her hand, soothing her. "This isn't a test, okay? If you don't see anyone you recognize in these photos, we'll try other ones."
By the time she reached the end of the softball pictures, she hadn't seen the man from the parking garage. She took a deep, shuddering breath, from uneasiness or relief, she wasn't sure which. Then Mac took the mouse.
"Okay," he said calmly. "We'll look at last year's office party."
He opened another folder and she reclaimed the mouse. These pictures were clearer. She went through them slowly, and suddenly sucked in a breath.
"What?" Mac's voice was thick with tension.
"This is the guy who was killed, right?"
"Yeah. That's Joe Kelly and his girlfriend."
She stared at the man in the picture, who had his arm around the shoulder of a dark-haired woman. Kelly and the woman were both smiling and toasting the camera with bottles of beer.
He'd had no idea he'd be dead in less than a year.
It was a stark reminder that no one was guaranteed another day on earth.
Lizzy glanced at Mac, leaning toward her, studying the screen. Because he'd tracked her down and found her on Skipjack, Mac could be the next one to die.
She couldn't bear it. She wouldn't let another man die because of her. She clicked hard on the next picture. As soon as she...
"That's him," she whispered, staring at the picture on the screen. She curled an arm around her stomach and sucked in a breath. The killer was standing with Kelly, smiling. It looked as though they'd been talking and the photographer had said something to get their attention. The killer looked like any guy you'd pass on the street – slightly wavy brown hair, brown eyes, friendly smile.
Mac's knuckles whitened as he made a fist. "You sure?"
She struggled to find the breath to answer. "Yes." She'd never forget that face.
"Let the record state that Ms. Monroe identified Special Agent Derek Jacobsen as the person she saw in the parking garage located at Clark and Belmont at approximately two A.M., November 14," Mac said, his voice clipped. His eyes were flat and cold as he stared at the photo. "Please tell me what happened, starting when you stepped onto your floor of the garage."
Lizzy stared at the face on her screen, the face that was burned into her memory. She shivered, suddenly as cold as she'd been that night. She smelled the stink of old gas and rusting cars and her fear. She felt the frigid, oily cement beneath her hands, saw the white plume of her breath in the air.
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She wasn't in the garage. She was safe, and she needed to be calm and organized and thorough. She didn't want Kelly's killer to get off on a technicality. "When I stepped onto the fourth floor of the garage, where I'd left my car, I saw two men at the end of the row. They looked like they were arguing."
Forty-five minutes later, Mac turned off the camera and she slumped in her chair, wrung dry by the ordeal of re-telling what had happened. Mac wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, and she burrowed into him. She was still cold, the images still vivid in her brain. She craved Mac's warmth and the comfort of his touch.
"You did a great job, Lizzy," he said quietly. "You were clear, concise and calm. It will be hard for a defense attorney to find any chinks in that statement."
"Not that they won't try," Connor added. "But yeah, you did good."
Mac shoved the computer away from him. The image of Derek Jacobsen smiled out at Lizzy, and she studied the man she'd been running from for the past three months. He didn't look evil. He looked...ordinary. Unremarkable. "What happens now?," Lizzy asked, staring at the smiling man on the screen. "Can you call your boss and have him arrested?"
Mac sighed and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Can't call anyone at the FBI. We don't know if anyone else is involved." He let his hands drop and stared at Jacobsen's image on the screen. "Before this happened, I might have called him." Mac jerked his head toward the picture of Jacobsen. "I thought he was a good agent. Thorough, careful, methodical." His jaw muscle worked. "Bastard."
Lizzy squeezed his arm, and Mac closed his eyes. Then he stabbed at the computer's power button, erasing Jacobsen's face and sending the bulky laptop sliding across the table. "The only people I trust right now are my brothers and sister."
"What about another FBI office?"
He spun around and stared out the window at the brown brick of the building next door. "Maybe. But it would have to be an office outside of Chicago. Milwaukee, maybe. Or Indianapolis. Not sure we have enough time to coordinate it. Damn it!"
He faced her again and shoved a hand through his hair. "Jacobsen is going to be on the first flight he can catch to Chicago today. Best thing would be to meet him at the airport, grab him then. Get him in a cell, the
n figure out who else is involved. There's no one I trust enough to do it, though." Mac's fist clenched and relaxed, clenched and relaxed as he stared at the wall, lost in thought.
Connor and Brendan glanced at each other. Lizzy watched as they shared unspoken words, then Connor said, "He doesn't know me or Bren. We could grab him when he gets off the plane."
"This is a federal case," Mac replied. "Federal jurisdiction."
Brendan raised his eyebrows. "Really? You want to get into a pissing match about whose murder it is? It happened in the city. In Con's precinct, in fact. Which gives Chicago cops the right to arrest the guy. Con and I will grab him and keep him on ice while you figure out the next step."
Mac looked from one of his brothers to the other. Lizzy knew his expressions well enough that she could tell he was mulling the idea. "That sounds like a good idea," she offered. "You said the only people you trust are your family. So let them catch Jacobsen."
Mac glanced at her, then back at his brothers. He sighed. "As much as I like the idea, I don't think it'll work. Jacobsen has seen you before, at a softball game. Or at basketball. Hell, you've been in our office. He'd make you as soon as he spots you."
Before Connor could answer, someone knocked on the front door. For a moment everyone froze. Then Mac and his brothers surged to their feet. The sound of metal rasping against leather echoed in the silence as all of them drew their guns and moved into the living room.
They were two feet away when Lizzy heard a key in the lock and the door burst open. A young woman stepped inside, wearing jeans and a baggy black sweater. She looked a lot like Rose. Her wavy dark hair was longer than Rose's, but her eyes were the same brilliant blue as her brothers. It had to be Mac's sister.
She glanced at the guns her brothers had trained on her and rolled her eyes. "Dramatic much?" she said, kicking the door shut behind her.
"Damn it, Mia." Mac shoved his gun back in his shoulder holster at the same time as his brothers. "You should have called."
"And miss making this entrance? Where's the fun in that?" She grinned at them, then focused on Lizzy. "You must be Lizzy." She walked around the table, holding out her hand. "I'm Mia. The morons' sister."
Lizzy stood and shook Mia's hand. Mia gave a firm grip with a slightly chapped hand. "Nice to meet you, Mia."
"You, too." She studied Lizzy for a long, uncomfortable minute, and Lizzy resisted the urge to squirm.
Lizzy finally squared her shoulders and stared back at Mia. "You want to check my teeth, too? Maybe get a better look at my hips, make sure they're suitable for childbearing?"
At the edge of her vision, Lizzy saw Mac biting his lip to keep from smiling. Brendan and Connor tried to smother laughter behind her.
Instead of being embarrassed, Mia shrugged, but her eyes twinkled. "No need," she said. "You'll do."
"Wow." Lizzy raised her eyebrows, suppressing a grin. "Is this when I swoon?"
Mia laughed as she grabbed Lizzy and hugged her. "Welcome to the family."
Lizzy froze. Then she stumbled away from Mia, wincing when a sharp pain shot up her leg from her sprained ankle. "I'm not part of...this isn't...no."
Mac steadied her with one arm wrapped around her shoulders. As if claiming her? Telling her she was part of the family?
No. She didn't have the time for that happy fantasy. She couldn't indulge herself with visions of the future. She had to get out of here now, so all the Donovans could have a future.
His arm tightened around Lizzy as if he could read her mind. "That's enough, Mia," he said sharply. "We don't have time for that. We've got a problem, and you're not helping. Can you act your age for once?"
Mia froze, and hurt flashed across her face. It was gone almost before Lizzy recognized it. Then Mia grinned at Mac, although it didn't extend to her eyes. "Sorry. 'Act my age'? Can't do it. That would be against the 'baby of the family' code."
Before Lizzy realized she was moving, she was next to Mia, squeezing her hand. "Maybe you should just tell Mia what we've found and what we need to do."
Mia whipped her head around to study Lizzy, then slowly smiled. "I'm impressed," she said. "You're on the run, you've been hauled back here from the back of beyond, and you've got a bad ankle on top of it. But you've managed to surprise my brother the Fibbie. Not an easy thing to do." She nodded at Mac, who was staring at Lizzy.
Mac's lips thinned, then he nodded once. "You're right. Sorry, Mia. This is where we stand."
He told her about Lizzy's statement, about who she'd identified as the killer, and their difficulty thinking of someone to arrest Jacobsen at the airport.
"I could do it," Mia offered.
Mac shook his head. "Con and Bren already offered. They wouldn't work for the same reason you won't. Jacobsen has seen all of you."
"When have we met? Does the dirtbag even know you have a sister?"
"You've been to our ball games. Does he know you're my sister? Maybe not, but I don't want to chance it."
"Who else you gonna get?" Mia asked.
"What about Gail?" Connor said. "She could do it."
"Who's Gail?" Lizzy asked, too sharply.
"An agent in our satellite office in Orland Park," Mac answered without looking at her.
Lizzy opened her mouth to ask Mac if he'd dated this woman. Were they involved?
Jealousy, ugly and sour-tasting, slithered through her. Her stomach twisted and her chest tightened.
Tucking her hands beneath her arms, she turned away. Mac wouldn't have slept with her if he was involved with someone else. She knew him well enough to be sure of that.
But maybe Gail used to be his lover.
Lizzy was shocked to realize that bothered her almost as much.
Which was ridiculous. She had no claim on Mac.
Her heart tried to argue with her, but she ignored it. She struggled to regain her composure, and when she was certain she could speak without revealing her roiling emotions, she cleared her throat. "Sounds like a good idea."
"No, it's a stupid idea," Mia said. "Soon as the jerk sees another agent, he'll know the gig's up. Looks like I'm your only choice, FBI."
"Mia..."
"I'm a cop, too, Mac," she said, and Lizzy saw the hurt in her eyes. "I'm damn good at my job. Do you want my help or not?"
Chapter 20
Mac closed his eyes against the pain in his sister's expression. Mia was right. She was a damn good cop, on the path to making detective.
So why wasn't he willing to send her to the airport to arrest Jacobsen?
Because he wanted to protect her. Which was ridiculous. He'd seen Mia on the range, knew she could put six in the bullseye blindfolded. He'd seen her sparring at the precinct gym and knew how skilled she was at that, as well. How fierce. She could take down a man twice her size.
It went against the grain, though, sending his baby sister after a dangerous, desperate man. Jacobsen was good at fighting, too. Mac had sparred with his fellow agent more than once. And the rogue agent would use every dirty trick in the book, especially if he suspected Mia was related to him.
"I do want your help, Mia," he finally said. "And you're scary good – I've seen you in action. But I'm still afraid Jacobsen has seen you and that'll tip the guy off." His gaze drifted from his sister to Lizzy as he imagined either of them going up against Jacobsen. "And I don't want you going alone," he admitted.
Mia's jaw clenched and her eyes sparked. "Seriously? You think I'm still six years old, tagging along with you and the rest of the boys?" She strode toward him and shoved him in the chest. "Fuck you, Cormac Donovan. I'm out of here."
"Mia, wait." He grabbed her wrist and held on when she tried to jerk free. "I wouldn't want Bren or Con to go by themselves, either. Jacobsen has to know we've figured out he's the killer, so he's got nothing to lose. He'll expect someone to be waiting, so it has to be someone who won't trigger an alarm. That means all Donovans are off the table. And one cop, even you, Super Girl, is off the table, too."
At
her old family nickname, Mia stopped struggling and turned to face him. "You couldn't have said that the first time?" she asked, but the hurt was fading from her expression.
"I should have. But my instincts were screaming no, and I had to come up with something until my brain caught up."
Mia glanced over at Lizzy. "You sure you want this guy? Sounds like he's kind of slow on the uptake."
Lizzy darted a glance at him, her face flushing, then bent down to pet Franny, who'd been sticking to her side like she was glued there. Her hair swung over her face so Mac couldn't read her expression. "Mac has done a good job protecting me so far. So of course I want him on the job."
Mia's gaze shifted to Mac, then back to Lizzy, and she smiled. "Not what I meant, Lizzy."
Lizzy straightened, and she'd regained control. Mac recognized her cool, closed-off facade from the island. After they'd woken up after sex, she'd looked the same way. Distant. Shuttered. Impossible to read.
His brothers grinned like idiots as they watched. Mac scowled. "Either of you losers have an idea? A suggestion?"
Brendan's lips twitched, "I think you should just plant one on her. Make sure she knows..."
"Brendan!" Mac felt heat sweep over him, and he wanted to cringe. Lizzy already wanted to run. Brendan and Mia's teasing might push her over the edge. "I meant about Jacobsen, you ass."
They all looked at one another for a long moment. Lizzy's hand shook where she held onto Franny, and her gaze shifted to the door. Damn it! He grabbed her other hand and held on tight. Her fingers trembled in his and her muscles tensed.
Finally Connor spoke. "Can both of you shut the hell up for a few minutes? What is this, a stand-up comedy routine?"
His narrowed gaze shifted from Mia to Brendan and back to Mia. Finally he continued, "What about getting a couple of guys from the precinct to intercept the bastard at the airport? Maybe Cooper and Jennings. They're good detectives, and they can pose as a couple. Easier to fly under the radar that way."
Find Me (The Donovan Family Book 3) Page 19